


I'll Carry Your Pain

by Perpetual Motion (perpetfic)



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pride Bingo, Prompt Fill, life bond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:15:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24799051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perpetfic/pseuds/Perpetual%20Motion
Summary: Sonny feels Rafael get hurt.
Relationships: Olivia Benson/Rita Calhoun, Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Comments: 13
Kudos: 97
Collections: Barisi Pride 2020





	I'll Carry Your Pain

Sonny sighs as he tosses a finished report into his outbox and picks up another folder from his to-do pile. It's mid-afternoon, and he's been catching up on paperwork all day. He'd rather be running down leads with Amanda and Fin, but Liv had met him that morning with a significant look at his paperwork backlog, and Sonny had known better than to argue. 

At least he'll get off on time, he thinks. He and Rafael have barely managed reheated leftovers and minimal conversations the last few nights, as busy as they've both been. It'll be nice to be able to go home and cook them something fresh. Even if Rafael's still wiped from the trial and can't say much, the food will be fresh, and Sonny will have the energy to take care of both of them. 

He smiles at the thought and leans back in his chair to stretch. There's a deep twinge in his chest, a few inches under his pec. He winces and wonders how long he's been hunched over as he presses his fingers to the sore spot. 

The spot is overly warm and getting warmer. Sonny's hands shake as he pushes his tie aside and yanks his shirt open. He distantly hears two buttons go scattering. 

"Hey, Carisi, how about I buy--" Liv stops short. "Carisi?"

Sonny can't answer. He's bunching his undershirt in one hand, yanking it up and staring at the spot that hurts. It's purple, and it's spreading. 

"I'll drive," Liv says and dashes back into her office to get her keys.

Sonny drops his phone back onto his desk twice before he manages to get a real grip on it. He's shaking too hard to actually unlock it, so he thrusts it at Liv when she comes back to his desk. 

"Code?" she asks, gripping his elbow hard and leading him to the elevator. 

"7272."

Liv types it in with her thumb while pushing the button for the elevator with her elbow. "Breathe for me, Sonny," she says.

Sonny takes a deep breath, and oh, that hurts his whole chest. He tries to look down to check the spread of his bruise, but Liv makes a hard noise in her throat, and he jerks his head up so he's staring at the elevator doors when they open. 

"Rita says Rafael is on his way to the hospital," Liv says as they step into the elevator. 

Sonny wants to look over and read whatever texts Rita has sent, but he already feels like he's going to pass out just from the over-warm patch of purple bruise on his chest. "Ironic," he manages to say. 

Liv laughs, bitter but sincere, and Sonny knows she gets his joke. His partner injured in some way. Liv's partner--and Rafael's fellow jouster in the courtroom today--the one to send Sonny the information.

"One of the character witnesses for the defendant snuck in some sort of non-metal knife," Liv tells Sonny as the elevator takes them to the first floor. 

"Don't be mad at Rita," Sonny says without thinking. "She can't pat down everyone."

"She's going to fucking start," Liv mutters in the dark tone Sonny knows is a threat but not a promise. He is certain that the moment Liv and Rita are in the same room, Liv will pull Rita into a hug and assure her she is not responsible for whatever her witness did. It's what Sonny would do. 

"Rafael got stabbed between his ribs, but I think you already know that."

Sonny wishes he could turn and give Liv a wry grin, but his ribs ache, and he can feel the purple mark on his torso is still spreading, so he just nods. 

"It's going to be okay," Liv says in that quiet, sure way she has with survivors. Sonny wants to feel insulted she's using that tone on him, but he can't honestly be mad at her about it. The love of his life has been injured, and he can feel it, and Liv is showing him the same, deep kindness she shows everyone. 

"Thanks," he manages to say, and then he gives a sharp gasp because the middle of his bruise--the spot where Rafael must have been stabbed--flares hard with pain. 

Sonny whites out.

*

When Sonny is aware again, he and Liv are in an unmarked car, and Liv is driving like a cop in a cheap movie to get them to the hospital. "Lieu…" he manages. 

"Rita, I have to go," Liv says, and her phone bounces off Sonny's thigh. "You back?" she asks. 

"Think so," Sonny says. He tries to sit up straight, but slumps almost immediately. His chest hurts even more. It's a deep, aching sort of hurt, and he presses both hands against it as he sags against the seat.

"It was a whale bone knife," Liv says. "The metal detectors didn't pick it up."

"In the family forever, or something he found at a flea market?" Sonny asks, though even asking hurts. 

"Family heirloom. Passed down from father to son to father to son and so on." Liv takes Sonny's hand and squeezes tight. "Rafael just got a local so the doctor can stitch him up. You should feel less pain soon."

Sonny grunts in response, squeezing Liv's hand in response. He closes his eyes and focuses on keeping his breathing steady. "How did you even get me in the car?" he asks as the pain starts to edge off. The local is kickin in for Rafael. Good.

"I honestly don't know," Liv replies. She squeezes his hand again, then lets go slowly. "If your legs had gone out from under you, we'd have both been screwed."

"Did Rafael pass out?"

"I don't know. You'll have to ask him."

Sonny nods carefully. He pulls his shirt up to check the purple mark. It's turning blue at the edges, starting to recede. He breathes a sigh of relief and straightens his clothes. He stares at the loose thread of his missing buttons for a moment before taking his tie clip and working it through one of the button holes, then sliding his tie into it again. It'll hold as long as he's careful, he figures. 

Liv pulls into a spot at the emergency room and looks at him. "Your color's coming back," she says. "You feel okay?"

"I should eat something," Sonny says. 

Liv reaches behind her to grab her purse, she rifles through it briefly, then hands Sonny a protein bar. "I'll get you a coffee while you check on Rafael, okay?"

"Thanks," Sonny says. He eats the protein bar in four bites, then nods to show Liv he's good to go. 

Rita's in the waiting room, leaning against the wall with a splash of blood on her pale pink blouse. She doesn't look up from her phone until Liv says her name softly. There's leftover terror in her eyes, and Sonny would hug her except he doesn't want to touch Rafael's blood. 

"He's going to be fine," she says to Sonny as she takes Liv's hand and pulls her close. "No major blood loss. No punctured lung. The knife broke off at the guy's first thrust, so they had to pull out the broken part, but the doctor isn't worried about infection."

"Okay," Sonny says, nodding. He gives Rita a faint smile. "Thank you."

"Please do not thank me right now," Rita says, looking pained. "He was _my fucking witness_ , and--"

"And you prepped him for trial, which was the only thing you were required to do," Liv interrupts. She looks at Sonny. "Go find Rafael. I'll deal with this one."

"Curtain six," Rita says. 

"Thanks," Sonny replies. "And, Rita, really, there's no way either of us blame you for this."

"No, I've got that covered just fine," Rita replies. 

Sonny leaves Liv to talk Rita through her unnecessary guilt and walks to the desk so they can buzz him through the double doors. He spots curtain six almost instantly, and the closer he gets, the less second-hand pain he feels. Once he and Rafael can touch, the life bond will take any residual pain Sonny has from feeling Rafael's injury and do away with it so Sonny can concentrate on taking care of Rafael. 

He stops outside curtain six and takes a deep, slow breath. When he peeks around the curtain, Rafael's laying back with his eyes closed as a doctor threads a needle with black thread. "Excuse me," he says softly. 

Rafael turns his head, and his eyes open. "There you are," he says. 

"Here I am," Sonny replies, stepping into the little curtained area and taking Rafael's hand. 

"You must be Sonny," the doctor says with a welcoming smile. "I just heard a few things about you."

"Nothing nice," Rafael says. 

Sonny chuckles quietly and lifts Rafael's hand to his mouth, pressing a kiss to his knuckles. "Of course not," he replies. 

They sit in silence while the doctor stitches Rafael's wound. Seven stitches. Sonny stares at the neat line of them as the doctor cleans up and promises to send in a nurse with a snack and a shirt for Rafael to wear home. 

"Did it hurt a lot?" Rafael asks, eyes half-closed. There are still pain lines around his eyes, but they've lessened as Sonny's sat with him. Another benefit of their life bond. Rafael's pain won't go away, but their physical contact will dull it a certain amount.

"I almost passed out in the elevator," Sonny admits, pressing his mouth to the back of Rafael's hand. "I don't know how Liv got me in the car."

"But you're okay now?"

Sonny reaches out and smooths Rafael's hair from his brow. "Better than okay," he says. "You're right here."

Rafael smiles softly and strokes his thumb over Sonny's knuckles. "I love you," he says. 

"I love you, too," Sonny replies, and he kisses the words into Rafael's palm.

**Author's Note:**

> This is both a prompt fill AND a pride bingo fic! I win!


End file.
